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Create a classroom routine where students write regularly using a discussion board to help students get practice writing in a computer science context for the Computer Science Principles Performance Tasks.

Writing is central to success on the AP Computer Science Principles (CSP) Performance Tasks (PT), so try to get the students writing as much as possible

Writing is also difficult for high school students, especially in the context of a computer science classroom.

Having a writing routine helps prepare students for the PTs.

Discussion Board Guidelines and Prep:

Provide a new topic every two weeks.

Having two weeks a topic gives students a chance to read and engage with what others wrote.

Example topic: “How does the fact that computers use binary define the kinds of problems they can and cannot solve?”

Read and grade responses thoroughly at the beginning of the year in order to reinforce the routine and ensure that students are meeting the explicitly outlined expectations.

Make writing on the discussion board something students do in the first five minutes of class, as part of the course routine.

Establish rules for your discussion board like the following:

Students must:

Make three responses per topic to get credit.

Use full sentences.

Be nice and respectful to others.

Not use slang.

Comments must move discussion along by:

asking a question.

answering a question.

adding additional evidence and providing a link.

Certain types of responses do not count, like “LOL,” “I agree,” etc.

Reinforce that the audience of the discussion board are the students, not the teacher, to motivate students to put more effort into what they write.

Use discussion boards to incorporate the Global Impact aspect of the CSP curriculum by linking to a current event and prompting related questions, For example:

Here is a 2014 news story last year about YouTube having an integer overflow problem on the video counter for Psy’s Gangnam Style (http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/12/how-gangnam-style-broke-youtube/383389/)

Cover course topics, in this case binary and overflow, using prompts to get students started. Here are some example prompts:

“What is the programmer’s responsibility in programming when it comes to overflow?”

“How is this different if you are a developer at YouTube vs someone designing software for Insulin Pumps?”